Congress Trail
Sequoia National Park · near Three Rivers / Visalia · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 2 miles
- Elevation gain
- 200 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- May–October (road may close in winter) · Summer best for guaranteed access
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No hiking permit required. Park entry fee: $35/vehicle (7 days) or America the Beautiful Pass. Free shuttle from Wuksachi Lodge to General Sherman parking area in peak season — private vehicles may be restricted.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- General Sherman Tree — largest living tree by volume on Earth (52,500 cubic feet) · Multiple 200-foot+ sequoias on the loop · Paved, wheelchair-accessible sections · Interpretive signs throughout
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Crystal Cave (covered in the caving guide) is in the same park — combining Congress Trail with a Crystal Cave tour is Sequoia National Park's best all-day experience. Kings Canyon National Park (adjacent, no entrance between) adds Zumwalt Meadow and the Rae Lakes Loop trailhead as natural additions to a multi-day Sierra visit.
- Nickname
- The Giant Sequoia Loop
The guide
The Congress Trail exists because a single statistic needs to be experienced to be understood: General Sherman Tree contains 52…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Congress Trail — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.583, -118.7513